Perhaps not too surprisingly, spending copious amounts of time hovering over your mobile phone -- texting, emailing, gaming, or watching videos -- doesn't do much for your fitness.
Reported in Runners World on Thursday, Kent State University found that university students who spent large amounts of time on their phone -- as much as a truly obsessed 14 hours per day -- were less fit than those who spent around 90 minutes a day.
While the concept of mobile devices allows "on the go" communication, the more students used their devices, the more sedentary they were, the report said. Plus those who spent more time on their mobile devices were more likely to engage in other sedentary forms of entertainment, such as playing video games or watching films.
Low-frequency users, on the other hand, "were more likely to report being connected to active peer groups through their cell phones and to cite this as a motivation for physical activity."
"The possibility that cell phone use may encourage physical activity among some low-frequency users while disrupting physical activity and encouraging sedentary activity among high-frequency users helps explain the significant negative relationship between cell phone use and cardiorespiratory fitness identified in this study," the authors write.